Than Duc Viet, CEO of Garment 10 Company, said he has been bothered by many calls from strangers. He estimated that there were 400 calls on July 25.

“If you don’t urge your employees to pay debts, you should give up this phone number,” the debt chaser said.

In fact, Viet has no information about ‘from-the-sky debts’. There are over 10,000 workers in his company and he cannot manage their credit demand.

“When borrowing money, workers might be asked to provide information about their jobs, relatives and acquaintances. When workers cannot pay debts, creditors call their relatives and businesses’ directors, asking them to pay debts,” he said.

Viet said, in most cases, workers borrow small amounts of money, just several millions of dong. However, because of the compound interest, principal and exorbitant interest rates, they cannot pay the debts.

“The debt collectors ask if we owe salaries to employees as borrowers had not paid,” he said.

Nga, the leader of a state agency, said she received a call from a debt collector who asked her to pay debts for an unknown borrower. She said that she did not borrow money and has no relation with the borrower. The only common thing between them was that they are from the same commune and district in Hai Phong City.

Her daughter’s tutor also complained that she lost her identity card and someone had used the personal information on the card to borrow money and run away. As a result, Nga received many debt chasing calls every day.

In many cases, "black credit" lenders crop images of individuals and post them on social networks to defame and insult victims.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau from the HCM City Bar Association said the Penal Code stipulates that those who release untrue information may be subject to criminal prosecution, non-custodial reform for up to two years, or imprisonment from three months to one year.

However, the sanctions are not enough to deter "mental terrorists". Unlicensed lending apps have been increasing. The common features of the apps are the simple procedures and the exorbitant interest rates of 600-800 percent per annum.

Tran Chung